BJP's Agnimitra Paul vows to remove more names from Bengal voter list

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul says more names, including those of infiltrators, will be removed from Bengal's voter lists. This is a retort to CM Mamata Banerjee's claim that the ECI is deleting names at the BJP's behest, causing deaths.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul on Wednesday claimed that more names will be removed from voter lists in West Bengal, asserting that the names of Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators will not be spared. Paul further claimed that the BJP would take all necessary steps to ensure the integrity of the electoral process in the state. "Even more names will be struck off. Mamata Banerjee, the way your 15-year government and the Left government before your government have been winning elections by deceiving the people of Bengal and securing votes using Rohingya, Bangladeshi infiltrators, dead voters, and fake voters - this won't happen this time. 58 lakh names have been removed. There are many more in the queue," she told ANI.

Mamata Banerjee blames BJP, ECI for deaths

This comes after Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of deleting voters' names from the electoral roll using artificial intelligence on the behest of the BJP.

Addressing a press conference in Howrah, Mamata Banerjee held the BJP responsible for the alleged deaths during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of the voter lists in the state. The Chief Minister said, "84 people died till this morning; 4 died by suicide, 17 lost their lives due to brain stroke or heart stroke after getting SIR notice. The Election Commission should take responsibility for all these deaths. BJP should take responsibility for all these deaths; even Duryodhana and Dushasana should take responsibility for these deaths. Names are deleted through Al on the BJP's instructions. As per our knowledge, there is a plan that people from Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha are entering here and voting in Bengal."

'Coordinated conspiracy to disenfranchise people': TMC

Further, the TMC leader called the ECI's 'logical discrepancies' claim a "dubious category", forcing 1.36 crore voters to face hearings. "Acting at the behest of the BJP, ECI carried out SIR in Bengal in a reckless and ill-planned manner, resulting in the deletion of nearly 58 lakh names from the electoral rolls. When even this massive purge failed to satisfy the BJP's political objectives, a new and dubious category called 'logical discrepancies' was invented, forcing 1.36 crore voters to face hearings without the Commission even disclosing the complete list of names. Still unsatiated, the BJP has now escalated this assault on democracy by ferrying in people from other states, loading vehicles with thousands of Form 7, and coercively submitting them to engineer the mass deletion of genuine voters," Mamata told reporters.

She also termed the SIR a "coordinated conspiracy" to disenfranchise the people of West Bengal.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)